The Sony people did a fabulous job of getting me one-on-one time with two main developers of both games, and I left looking forward to good things to come.

So, when my playstation version of the game arrived, I eagerly inserted it to download.

And then I waited….

…. and waited some more…

And after an hour I gave up and went to run some errands.

Upon my return an hour later, I was sure I’d be ready to get down and dirty with some game action.

I was wrong.

It took almost three hours for it to download.

Why am I tell you this?

Well, I think it is a great way to convey the depth and complexity of this massive multi-player online (MMO) game.

This isn’t some minimal effort hurried through to exploit the revered world of the Marvel comics book series. The developers brought their full effort, and its apparent from the onset.

The beginning is what you might expect. The user chooses the side of good or evil. They then go to task on building their character from the ground up via a vast selection of attributes. Looks, size, skin, fashion, weapons, special powers, etc. No attention to detail is spared.

After a brief game introduction/tutorial, your character is now ready for action in a huge online Metropolis that is chalk full of other gamers trying to successfully complete a dizzying array of missions.

So, in layman’s terms, you have just created a super you. You now jump into this vast, detailed, virtual city, and live your super hero life by taking on countless missions that build your character along the way.

You can make friends with other users, or even team up and fight good or evil together around the city.

This isn’t the type of game that a user can fly through. It takes time and effort, and this is what sets it apart. I found it astonishing how quickly three or four hour chunks of time seemed to vanish each time I traveled to Metropolis.

D.C. Universe is almost a lifestyle. It is a world that the user can escape to and never run out of things to do. But that’s what an MMO is supposed to be about, right?

For those who are not experienced with MMO’s, D.C. Universe seems the an ideal option to give it a try. The monthly subscription fee will be a seen as a drawback to most, but thankfully, the initial free month gives enough time to decide if its for them or not.

Regardless if it is for you, or isn’t, the overall quality of this game is impressive enough to at least give it a go.

A “vast” selection of attributes? As compared to what? I’m a huge DC fan and I was really hoping for a great game, but in the end it didn’t have enough to sell me on a long-term basis. The character customization is pretty pathetic as compared to City of Heroes or even Champions Online, the female models are ridiculous (especially in the chest area), and there aren’t many power choices when you boil it down. The ability to add to and customize your power set with additional options was ok, but I couldn’t force myself to keep playing long enough to find out if it was worth it at higher levels. It’s too much a console-game-turned-MMO and even the super coolness of interacting with/fighting alongside/fighting against DC characters wasn’t enough. Recommending this game to people with no MMORPG experience would leave them with a very different impression of those games: if they expect them all to be like DCUO, they’re in for a surprise (assuming they decide to try any others afterwards). Good for a change, but not (in its current state) worth a long-term committment.

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A “vast” selection of attributes? As compared to what? I’m a huge DC fan and I was really hoping for a great game, but in the end it didn’t have enough to sell me on a long-term basis. The character customization is pretty pathetic as compared to City of Heroes or even Champions Online, the female models are ridiculous (especially in the chest area), and there aren’t many power choices when you boil it down. The ability to add to and customize your power set with additional options was ok, but I couldn’t force myself to keep playing long enough to find out if it was worth it at higher levels. It’s too much a console-game-turned-MMO and even the super coolness of interacting with/fighting alongside/fighting against DC characters wasn’t enough. Recommending this game to people with no MMORPG experience would leave them with a very different impression of those games: if they expect them all to be like DCUO, they’re in for a surprise (assuming they decide to try any others afterwards). Good for a change, but not (in its current state) worth a long-term committment.

A&E reporter John Wenzel has covered a variety of topics for The Denver Post over the years, including video games, comedy, music and the fine arts. He's been playing and loving video games since his dad brought home a sweet ColecoVision in 1983. Catch him on PSN as beardsandgum.

Hugh got his start writing for the Cheyenne and Woodmen Edition newspapers in Colorado Springs. In 2011 he moved to Denver where he has written for Denver Urban Spectrum and Colorado Community Media’s Wheat Ridge Transcript. Hugh joined The Denver Post in 2014 as an editorial assistant.